Xunzi Rationality and Order─影片 Dailymotion

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00:00At the end of the warring states period, a hundred schools of thought were in dispute.

00:05And in this arena of intense strife, a philosopher, with his deep and calm strokes,

00:10sketched out an ideal world of rational order. He was not a transcendent wanderer like the

00:15Taoists, nor was he an emotional preacher of love like Mencius. He was Shuanzi, a realist

00:22thinker who centered on the theory of sex and evil, and the equal importance of rights and laws.

00:28Today, we enter his spiritual world to find out why he emphasized so much on order,

00:33rationality, and the power of man's own transformation in a chaotic world.

00:38Shuanzi, using logic and reason to set another calm tone for Chinese philosophy.

00:44Sunzi, courtesy named Qing, was born in Lanling, in the state of Zhao. Born at the end of the

00:51warring states period, he experienced the division of vassals and frequent wars,

00:55and also witnessed the development of Confucianism from the way of Confucius and Mencius to a tool

01:00of the court. Shuanzi was a young and intelligent man who taught at the Ji Shi Academy and was the

01:07representative of the most systematic philosophical system in the Ji Shi School. He served in the

01:12government three times, but was eventually ostracized by his political opponents and went

01:17into hiding. He was a rich writer, and his book Shuanzi, with 32 manuscripts, is one of the most

01:24complete systems among the preaching scholars. He twice criticized Mencius, arguing that the doctrine

01:30of sexual goodness lacked a basis in reality, while he built a viable philosophy of transformation

01:36oriented toward human nature and state governance based on social reality. The root of Shuanzi's

01:43philosophy is a profound examination of human nature. He said, man's nature is evil,

01:48and his goodness is false. In his view, man's nature is not inherently good, but tends toward

01:55profit, good desires, selfishness, and inordinateness. If left unguided, it leads to contention and chaos.

02:04Therefore, morality is not innate, but the fruit of acquired indoctrination.

02:09This view is not pessimistic, but a starting point for realism. He does not fantasize about the

02:15goodness of human nature, but believes that through education and institutions, people can be molded to

02:20be good, upright, and agreeable. He emphasized pseudo, or artificial processing, as the central

02:27driving force of human civilization. Water is not differentiated, if it is decided to be something,

02:34then something is injected into it. Human nature is indistinguishable, if it is transformed into good

02:40and evil, then good and evil will come into being. Education, etiquette, and culture are the dikes

02:46that draw the water, the tools that lead the chaotic human nature to order. Shuanzi put forward

02:53the political ideology of elevating the rights and emphasizing the law. According to him, rights are

02:59the most fundamental system of human civilization, the guarantee of living in a group without contradiction,

03:04and dealing with a crowd without disorder. Ritual is not a formalistic red tape, but a sophisticated

03:11system that maintains social hierarchy, emotional expression, and ethical order. Law, on the other

03:18hand, is the bottom line of rights, the final guarantee against the return of society to a state of chaos.

03:25Unlike the legalists, Shuanzi does not regard law as a tool of violence, but rather is complementary

03:31to rights, together building the skeleton of a civilized society. Ritual is the basis of law,

03:38law is the use of ritual. Politically, he advocated the rule of the state by the virtuous,

03:44the parallelism of the king's way and the rule of law, and the enhancement of the monarch's qualities

03:49through education, and the checks and balances on selfish desires through institutions. The ruler is

03:55the boat, the common people are the water. Water carries the boat, water overturns the boat.

04:02In his view of the universe, Shuanzi distanced himself significantly from Confucius, Mencius,

04:08and even the Taoists. He opposed the doctrine of the mandate of heaven, emphasizing that,

04:14heaven acts with constancy, and that nature operates with its own laws, which are not shaken by

04:19human affairs. Shuanzi believed that man and nature should be governed separately. There is a time

04:26for heaven, a time for earth, and a time for man to rule. Instead of praying and complaining to heaven

04:32in the face of nature, man should realize social and personal goals through his own efforts man's

04:37determination to overcome heaven. This idea of, separation of heaven and man, is a rationalist view

04:45rarely found in Chinese philosophy. It inspired later generations to emphasize science, education

04:51and institution building, a crucial turn from theocracy to rational governance. Although Shuanzi was

04:58historically marginalized by Confucian orthodoxy, his disciple Han Fizi pioneered legalism, his views

05:05on education influenced Dong Zhongshu to develop rites and rituals, and his political philosophy became the

05:11theoretical cornerstone of the Han Dynasty's institution building. Shuanzi's thought was a

05:16bridge connecting Confucianism, legalism, and Taoism. With the calm vision of realism, he provided the

05:23idealists with the basis for their system. Today, in the face of the social reality of accelerating

05:29technology, expanding desires, and fissuring values, we can still find answers from Shuanzi.

05:35How can education mold people? How can a system correct desires? How can reason counteract superstition

05:44and violence? This is precisely the contemporary expression of Shuanzi's philosophy. Like a calm

05:51engineer of thought, Shuanzi does not depict utopia or advocate personal divinity, but tells us.

05:58The goodness of man is not a gift from heaven, but the result of his own efforts to shape it.

06:03If a man can flock, he cannot do so without benevolence and righteousness, if a man can rule,

06:10he cannot do so without rights and laws. He believed that institutions could tame desires,

06:16and that rites and music could edify the heart. He believed that behind civilization is the persistence

06:22of goodness from generation to generation. And today, understanding Shuanzi may be the beginning

06:28of rethinking how we should face ourselves, society, and the future.

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